Good Intentions
by KrossWinter
Summary: Alexei thinks back to how he became a villain in his final moments. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. One-shot.


Disclaimer: I don't own ToV.

Something I thought of as I was remembering The Dark Knight.

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Commandant Alexei thought back to how it got this far as clashed blades with Yuri Lowell. He thought back to how he became a villain.

Alexei knew full well what he had become as he proceeded with his plans. Funding research to create a substitute for Dein Nomos, ordering the Entelexeia to be hunted down for their apatheia, using the Imperial Knights for his own purposes. Oh, he knew full well.

People used to praise him for his virtue, how kind and chivalrous he was. How he embodied what a knight should be. Strength, honor, dedication. They praised his prowess in combat and his determination. How he was a beacon of light.

He grunted as a barrage of fireballs slammed against him. _Pesky mage_, he thought as he kicked Yuri away to go deal with her.

They praised his love of life and his gentle, but firm mercy. The people loved him. And he loved them. He always commanded the knights to do what was best for the people in the beginning. Now, he commanded them to do as they had, but whether or not the people wanted what was best for them in the first place.

Zaphias – nay, the whole Empire – had become corrupted. So corrupted was the nobility even, that there was no suitable replacement for the seat of the throne. Ioder had served well enough as a figure to pacify the people while Alexei continued with his schemes in the background to save them from the corruption that had infiltrated so far deep into their society.

He loved the people. He would do whatever it took to give them the best possible life. And currently, the Empire had failed its duty to the people. And Alexei would fix that. He would unleash chaos that would uproot the corrupted and bring about a revolution, and the people would come out all the better for it.

Alexei blocked Yuri's slash again, but gave a hiss of pain when that blasted dog of his sliced at his calve. He reached behind to grab the dog, and threw him across the field. Alexei couldn't help but wince though, he now had to fight with a limp. But he had to keep going. _For the people_, he reminded himself.

Once he discovered the royal family's power, Alexei threw himself into ancient folklore, human, krityan, and entelexeian. He spent exhausting night after exhausting night trying to find any truth behind it all. And once his research paid off, it led him to Zaude. It led him to the power it contained and destruction it could wreak. _Yes_, he thought. This would be the power he would use to bring about change in the world.

People were innately capable of evil, this Alexei knew. He strived everyday to prevent himself from falling into its clutches, for if he fell, who would save humanity from the evil it birthed itself? Who would save the people? Even if he had to sacrifice the princess, Zaude would uproot the evil and corruption.

But now the people feared and despised him. They no longer praised his gentle, but firm mercy or his love of life. They cursed him as evil and a disgrace to the knights. But they did not see that he is simply helping them, but how could they when corruption ran so deep?

Alexei wheezed as the pain caused by the princess' Grand Chariot faded from him. _ I'm being pushed back…_, he realized. No, he couldn't let this happen. The people, whether they wanted him or not, needed his help. With renewed determination, he cried, "BRILLIANT CATACLYSM!"

In retrospect, he supposed he knew he would become to be seen as a villain. The things he did for the people required him to become the scion of destruction and a bearer of their scorn and hate. He would bear it all for them. He would save them.

But now, as he felt the pain from Yuri's slash across his chest pulse with vigor and the sky seemingly shattering above him, Alexei realized what had happened.

Zaude was not a weapon for him to liberate the people with. He had unleashed a true chaos and destruction among them. Among the very people he loved and cared for so much, the very people he wanted to save from themselves.

And now that the giant blastia that held back this monstrosity was plummeting towards him, Alexei knew.

He didn't die a hero, so he lived long enough to become the villain.

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A/N: And that's all folks. I sort of understood Alexei's position and why he did what he did, so I like his character for that.

Tell me if you like it.

Review.


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